"The Cold Winds are Rising"

Introducing Carice van Houten as Melisandre

We’ve actually been huge fans of Carice van Houten’s for a long time, so we were absolutely THRILLED to see her added to the cast of Game of Thrones, Season 2.

According to Wikipedia (which is — of course — the most dependable source of information), this is the un-spoiling account of Melisandre, the character she’ll be playing (DO NOT CLICK AROUND WIKIPEDIA TOO MUCH IF YOU DON’T WANT SPOILERS):

A priestess of R’hllor in service to Stannis Baratheon. Melisandre has prophetic powers that give her partial knowledge of future events. Unlike many other people in Westeros with access to prophecy, Melisandre has absolute faith in her own interpretation.

Would it be uncool of us to say — despite having no prophetic powers whatsoever — that we’re sure Carice van Houten is going to be extraordinary and have absolute faith in our interpretation of her? She’s breathtakingly stunning, has a wonderful personality, and has demonstrated exceptional acting talent in several great roles.

The best performance of her career (in our opinion) was in the spectacular Dutch film, Black Book. She also showed great versatility in Black Death, playing a witch-like Pagan. You will all come to love her, we assure you!